Is Money spent exploring Space wasted?

A lot of lefties and socialists always claim that we are wasting money on "pipe dreams and moon-beams" as Dennis The Menace Kucinich has said. He -- and they -- say that we should be paying for bigger and better public slums instead.

Here are a few of the things I would like to know, and it seems that going out and looking and doing science is the only way I will ever get my curiosity satisfied.

1 - What is at the center of Jupiter. The biggest, most powerful electrical generator ever made by humans is the Z machine at Sandia Labs. It generates a cool 50 TRILLION watt pulse of juice for a tiny fraction of a second that forms an internal pressure and force of 3.25 million atmospheres. btw... that jolt is equal to the sum of ALL OTHER ENERGY on earth for that fraction of a second. Jupiter quietly does this every second of it's existence in a ho-hum manner, but there isn't any good explanation of why or HOW it does it. It would be good to know, as this would allow the dreamed of polution-free fusion energy on-demand.

2 - Except for Hydrogen and Helium -- why is the RATIO of elements the same for the planets and the sun, and yet the planets have triple the amounts as a percentage of the whole? For example, the ratio of oxygen in the sun to the ratio of oxygen on jupiter matches. But Jupiter has three times more oxygen per given weight as the sun. Why? And Why are the lightest elements found at the Sun and not out in the oort cloud as all models say it should be?

3 - Where and how did the planets get their oceans and atmospheres? Do you think this might be important to know if we are going to run around crying "the sky is falling!"? Hydrogen is the first most common element in the universe and Oxygen is third. So there should be a LOT of water, and there is. But! Almost none inside the Goldilocks orbit of earth and not enough outside this golden orbit. Why? Water is very plentiful out to the oort clouds, but not as common as it should be. What is going on here? Where is the water!?

We think that our water came from Comets in that first billion years. But the numbers are hard to explain. Somehow, we got hit by comets that had ten times more water on them than todays comets have. Say "Hunh?"

Do you think it would be good to stop "wasting" money on such things and just give money like crazy to "end poverty" and "end aids" and "end suffering..."

If you like magic and hate reality, be sure to tell us how to get the dictators of the world to let us into their playgrounds with trucks full of food and medicine for their prisoners and citizens.

Originally posted by StarValleyWy
the ratio of oxygen in the sun to the ratio of oxygen on jupiter matches.

I didn't say it very well. Let me try again.
The specific problem is called "The Enrichment of Jupiter".
Before the Galileo mission, scientists thought icy planetisimals trapped heavy elements early on in the solar systems formation, carrying them into the hearts of developing gas giants. If true, the ratios of heavy elements present in Jupiter today and how they differ from the Sun's elemental composition -- would give the ingredients needed to understand how Jupiter's present form developed.

But the probe revealed instead that the Sun and Jupiter have identical ratios of important HEAVY elements. The key difference: Jupiter has 3 times the quantity of these elements as the Sun. Jupiter is ENRICHED with the expected heavy elements, (if accretion is the model of formation) but also in argon and other elements that can't be explained by our current accretion models.

Perhaps Jupiter formed very late in the accretion process, but if so, why is it the largest volume and most massive accretion object?

Another problem of the result of this is that we have a hard time letting Earth survive if Jupiter did form very late in the process. Almost all computer models show earth as being destroyed if this Late Formation is indeed the case.

I don't know about a link. I got it from a discussion at the Southwest Institute by Hal Levison. He knows a bit about accretion as it joins his major field of Giant Planet Migration... his theory that planets migrate variously in relation to the sun in ways yet to be fully understood. google Hal Levison... and if you have a membership to Astronomy magizine, there is an excellent article by him concerning the "enrichment of jupiter" problem.

Originally posted by StarValleyWy
A lot of lefties and socialists always claim that we are wasting money on "pipe dreams and moon-beams" as Dennis The Menace Kucinich has said. He -- and they -- say that we should be paying for bigger and better public slums instead.

Here are a few of the things I would like to know, and it seems that going out and looking and doing science is the on ...[text shortened]... ygrounds with trucks full of food and medicine for their prisoners and citizens.

We got a lot of modern gadgets from the technology developed by persuing the space program. Solve a problem, and the spin-offs we get for everyday use become legion.

Originally posted by Sam The Sham
We got a lot of modern gadgets from the technology developed by persuing the space program. Solve a problem, and the spin-offs we get for everyday use become legion.

Originally posted by Sam The Sham
We got a lot of modern gadgets from the technology developed by persuing the space program. Solve a problem, and the spin-offs we get for everyday use become legion.

Originally posted by znsho
Stupid argument by leftists. The Earth will not last forever. If you leave it to the last moment, humans will not solve that problem. Start now, and the problem will probably be solved.

Originally posted by StarValleyWy
A lot of lefties and socialists always claim that we are wasting money on "pipe dreams and moon-beams" as Dennis The Menace Kucinich has said. He -- and they -- say that we should be paying for bigger and better public slums instead.

Here are a few of the things I would like to know, and it seems that going out and looking and doing science is the on ...[text shortened]... ygrounds with trucks full of food and medicine for their prisoners and citizens.

I'm curious about the Kucinich attribution by the OP. Is Kucinich really for cutting NASA funding in favor of welfare etc? I thought I had read about him lobbying against a NASA budget cut somewhere. I wasn't able to Google up the "pipe dreams and moonbeams" quote, but I could easily be Googling slightly off or something.

I'm pretty interested in this myself as I think space R&D is the long-term hope of the human race. If anything I think this is the time to expand that research.

Originally posted by StarValleyWy
A lot of lefties and socialists always claim that we are wasting money on "pipe dreams and moon-beams" .

I don't consider myself a lefty, however, I think that spending money on space exploration is a waste... but so is most money spent in the name of science.

Originally posted by lepomis
I don't consider myself a lefty, however, I think that spending money on space exploration is a waste... but so is most money spent in the name of science.

Originally posted by StarValleyWy
A lot of lefties and socialists always claim that we are wasting money on "pipe dreams and moon-beams" as Dennis The Menace Kucinich has said. He -- and they -- say that we should be paying for bigger and better public slums instead.

Here are a few of the things I would like to know, and it seems that going out and looking and doing science is the on ygrounds with trucks full of food and medicine for their prisoners and citizens.